376 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



August 



total cost of irrigation. It has been 

 found, for example, that in the San 

 Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys com- 

 munities which have expended $10 per 

 acre in building dams and ditches 

 have had to expend a like sum per acre 

 in order to prepare their fields in such 

 a manner as to be readily and cheaply 

 irrigated. At least $15,000,000 have 

 been expended by the farmers of Cali- 

 fornia in preparing the surface of 

 their fields for irrigation. It is no ex- 

 aggeration to say that the same work 

 might have been better done for less 

 than one-half of this immense sum if 

 men knew how to go about it. Of 

 necessity, every owner or occupant of 

 an irrigated farm has had to do more 

 or less experimenting in order to suc- 

 ceed, and $100 spent in experiment- 

 ing on each of the 35,000 farms soon 

 runs up into the millions. Now the 

 agents of the Office of Experiment 

 Stations are fully convinced that in 

 the reclamation of the millions of acres 

 of fertile land which yet remain un- 

 watered in this state much may be 

 saved in both labor and money if farm- 

 ers are given an opportunity to become 

 familiar with the best methods and 

 the best practice. 



The results of the preliminary work 

 done in this line in 1903 and in a part 

 of 1904 are embodied in Bulletin 145 

 of the Office of Experiment Stations 

 and since that time the work has been 



taken up more in detail in particular 

 districts of the state. The investiga- 

 tions now being carried on under this 

 head are confined to the Modesto and 

 Turlock Irrigation districts. An ef- 

 fort is being made to determine by 

 actual demonstration to what extent 

 grain can be profitably irrigated in 

 these districts as well as the best meth- 

 ods to adopt in the irrigation of grain 

 and alfalfa. 



ECONOMY OF PERMANENT STRUCTURES 



IN THE IRRIGATION SYSTEMS OF 



CALIFORNIA. 



The officers of irrigation enter- 

 prises have used mostly wood in 

 building their structures in the past. 

 In this custom they have but imitated 

 the example set by the management 

 of railways. But the pile and trestle 

 bridges of railway companies are be- 

 ing rapidly superseded by steel and 

 masonry, and it is believed that the 

 time has now come when more per- 

 manent structures are needed in irri- 

 gation works. 



The purpose of our study is to 

 show by concrete examples the econ- 

 omy of using concrete and steel in 

 place of wood and to compare the 

 first cost, general efficiency and du- 

 rability of such structures, as head- 

 gates, flumes, inverted syphons, drops, 

 etc., when built (a) of wood, (b) of 

 steel, and (c) of a combination of 

 concrete and steel. 





THE INFLUENCE OF PRIVATE TIMBER- 



LAND OWNERSHIP ON THE FOREST 



POLICY OF CALIFORNIA 



BY 



E. A. STERLING 



Assistant Forester, U. S. Forest Service 



^IA the high value preservation, combine to give oppor- 



water for irrigating purposes, tunity for the application there of 



the presence of large natural forest profitable and highly effective forest 



reserves, and the general sentiment methods. The influence which is most 



winch favors and encourages forest powerful in preventing the utilization 



